Monday, November 06, 2017

Hello Mamo listeners! The Matts are off on a new adventure, a monthly podcast for the Modern Superior network profiling the recently deceased in our pop culture community. Give a listen, and subscribe, follow, and enjoy as you see fit! We're in iTunes, Libsyn, the Play Store, and at modernsuperior.com.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

As Mamo gets near the end of its first season, we take in the formal mastery of DUNKIRK while wondering aloud: just white people? Really? And at least one of the Matts is a pretty hefty fan of GAME OF THRONES but greets this CONFEDERATE news with a hefty: really, white people? Really?

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Is intellectual curiosity a privilege, or a basic human value? Springing off Matt Zoller Seitz's twitter conversation this week about easy-access movies, we parse out how harshly one can judge anyone in this day and age for being behind the curve.

Saturday, June 03, 2017

Wonder Woman is here, and we dive deep into the suddenly-refreshing waters of the DCEU - with additional talk of Batman, the Justice League, Aquaman, and the cult of narrative around projects of this scale. Plus, Price's Disney boycott finally worked, and with Sense8 on its way out, peak TV may have finally peaked.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Building on comments in episode 463 ("Uber Iger"), we have another look at the political landscape that Disney is influencing, with an eye on the long game re: representation, diversity, and globalization. Is a billionaire vs. billionaire rumble coming? Plus, many special guest stars!

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Brown returns from Japan with stories to share, just as a swath of Orientalist garbage swamps the west - Iron Fist, Ghost in the Shell, and Death Note. Plus, let's talk about the competing nostalgist philosophies of Beauty & The Beast and T2: Trainspotting!

Monday, February 06, 2017

As if inspired by our recent comments re: our lane and his, Bozo POTUS doubled down on bringing the pop culture straight into the American government. Is Saturday Night Live now the voice of the resistance? Will corporations tilt towards, or away from, the cheesy-haired weirdo? If pursuing the right course demands an act of piracy, can PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES be the right course?

Thursday, February 02, 2017

America is dying a very specific "Germany in the mid-1930s" sort of death, and even if we don't know the outcome, we're beginning to identify the collaborators. Not so Mamo-related when it's a taxi company, but what about when it's the chairman of Disney? What are our responsibilities to this "popular culture" we've been gabbing about for 12 years? Before you say "stay in your lane," sorry friends, this shit is our lane.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

POWER!! Who has it? Who needs it? Who wants it? Who lost it? Team Mamo recaps the year 2016 in movers and shakers as the pop cultural landscape is wracked by celebrity deaths, digital doubles and orange-faced idiots. Hey 2016: don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. And for sure don’t fall down that flight of stairs, accidentally set yourself on fire and throw yourself off a bridge.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Mamo and Cinecast unite to form the Super Ticket! We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us. We are one with the force, the force is with us.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Welcome back to Mamo! Join us for a far-ranging discussion that starts with Donald Trump, Devin Faraci, and complicity in rape culture; wraps its arms around Ava DuVernay's 13th and Queen Sugar and the proper use of one's "power list" capital; and gets, generally, into where we are right now.

Monday, September 19, 2016

We almost made it out of TIFF 2016 without ever doing a show, but not quite! Joined (and prompted) by special guest star Shelagh Rowan-Legg, we have a look at a couple of remarkable genre films about women - RAW and THE UNTAMED - before diving into MOONLIGHT and the question of representation, as things finally begin to move forward.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

We're back! Team Mamo checks in on the summer of 2016 with comments on Pixar, Ghostbusters, Star Trek Beyond, Kong: Skull Island, Wonder Woman, and Justice League. Plus: we bring the gavel down on Barco Escape, and coo about Brie Larson.

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science has invited a slew of under-represented demographics to join their voting ranks this year. So is that... good? We discuss, plus all the usual blather about big fuckin' giants and swimming with the fishes.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Saturday, June 11, 2016

JESUS IS BACK AND HE'S READY TO KICK ROMAN ASS! And other sequels no one asked for. As think piece writers in general catch up to what Mamo was saying eleven years ago, we discuss the latest brace of underperforming (?) number twos, plus Warcraft, Star Trek, and the return of Mel Gibson.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

This Memorial Day, we fondly remember the days when Memorial Day was a good time to open a blockbuster. With X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass in the toilet, we castrate Fox's management of the X-franchise before diving into the wider question of fan entitlement, platonic relationships, and Cap being in love with Bucky (cuz he IS, ok?).

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Do you hear the slurping, mewling sounds of the internet fanboys roiling in disgust (once again) because women exist? It was hard not to get hit by the spray this week as the Cinema Massacre web site (!) achieved the seemingly impossible, and turned GHOSTBUSTERS into the most politicized film release of the year. We tackle the outrage, and then dovetail to this week's other gender war, #toofemale.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Anyone else excited for Black Panther? We sure are. What about Marvel Phase 4? Yup! What about... the digital manipulation of people irrespective of age, race, or gender? ...OK, that one gives us pause. Listen in for more!

Thursday, April 07, 2016

The rapturous arrival of the ROGUE ONE trailer gives us an opportunity to circle back on BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, and tie together all our thoughts on what audiences actually want from these stories, and why we respond to aspirational heroes. Listen in!

Monday, April 04, 2016

The Mamo Summer Box Office Contest is here! Matt & Matt handicap the big releases of the summer of 2016 and invite YOU to do the same. Captain America! Alice! Suicide Squad! Ghostbusters! Independence Day! The Big Fuckin' Giant! Who will win??

Monday, March 28, 2016

Two Matts enter, one Matt leaves! Then another Matt leaves, by a different door. It's the title fight you've all been waiting for: does Batman v. Superman deserve a Dawn of Justice or what even is Justice in this context anyway yadda yadda yadda maybe the movie's not that bad.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Spike Lee's new (to Canada, anyway) film Chi-Raq is absolutely splendid, and we gush about it for a good long while before trying to pick apart the racial politics of the hit animated film, Zootopia (which, hey, kudos for having racial politics, Z!). Plus: Matt B. sick of superheroes? Is this the Bizarro World??

Sunday, March 06, 2016

The last thing the world needs is another couple of straight white guys telling you what they think of the all-female Ghostbusters trailer, but we're gonna tell you anyway - with a meta twist, because we're going to talk about what we think of the opinions of the other straight white guys. Plus: American Hitler! Who ya gonna call?

Monday, February 29, 2016

Mamo's annual Oscar night party is here! As usual, we scatter a series of short minisodes across the evening, collected here in omnibus format - it's like watching the show with us in real time, only without the 4 hour exhaustion factor, or any farting. Joined by a veritable galaxy of guest stars, it's the one night of Mamo you don't want to miss! Except that you did miss it, if you're downloading this and listening to it after the fact. Well done genius.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Deadpool!! The R-rated superhero flick's massive over-performance this past weekend has thrown everyone into a tizzy, including us, if by "tizzy" you mean "questioning some of our previous statements about Ryan Reynolds." We toss the ball around a bit, with respect to the modern movie star and the growth of the comic book movie genre, before taking several more choice swipes at the imminent death rattle of Batman v. Superman.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has made some rapid changes to address the age and diversity of their voting body, and Mamo returns to discuss bootstrapping, privilege, and Wonder Woman, all of which are related. Listen in.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Mamo jumps up and down on the 2015 nominations for the Oscar, and you get to hear what happens! Are the Oscars "so white?" Is Leonardo DiCaprio "gonna win?" Does The Revenant "suck?" All this and a whole lot of Mad Max: Fury Road love on tonight's episode.
Plus, if it sounds to you like a crazy person is moaning at the top of his lungs throughout 9/10ths of the episode, you're not wrong: a crazy person is moaning at the top of his lungs throughout 9/10ths of the episode. And for once, it's not Price!

Saturday, January 09, 2016

As we emerge from CES with news of the resurrection of film AND the advancement of virtual reality, we take a long rambling detour into the world of online piracy, outrage culture, and the homogenization of the human race. Only on Mamo.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

The dream has become a reality. We now live in a world in which the sequel to Return of the Jedi is actually in existence. New heroes, old Jedi. Wookies, story board decisions, gender politics. Poor casting, use of CGI vs practical, box offfice numbers. Prognostication, the generational differences, the marketing. And it’s cold outside, so put on your coat!
Yes, there’s so much to get into with the latest installment of the Star Wars saga from director J.J. Abrams so we cover as much as we can in 75 minutes. The majority of the Super Ticket cast was completely enamored and in true wonder with the spectacle; but there is a vocal minority in here and he will not be silenced. Come forth young Padawans and receive your lesson for the day from Mamo! and The Cinecast. This is The Super Ticket: Episode VII.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Friday, December 04, 2015

There was a lot of conversation in the comments for our previous episode regarding the genre of Marvel's Jessica Jones - particularly, is it film noir? Is it a superhero show? Is it neither, or both? The Matts have opinions on what makes those genres genres, and what genre means, genre-ally. Listen in!

Monday, November 23, 2015

What's with all these Part Is, Part IIs, 13-part Netflix series, and the rest? Well, we already know the answer: money. But the case of the extended cut of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies provides a study in knowing when your movie is too long, just right, or in some cases, not long enough.
Apologies in advance - this episode is noisy, even for us. We'll try to pick a better spot next time (although to be fair, the pizza was terrific).

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Christmas is in the air, but more importantly, so is Star Wars - a lot of it, a truly nauseating amount of it really, but who are we to back away from the roaring fire of Star Wars contemplation that is the internet in the 4th quarter of 2015? So here's yet another look at the much-maligned Prequel Trilogy, and George Lucas, and why things are the way they are.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

The year of the Super Ticket sevens continues with double-oh-seven and SPECTRE. Beware SPOILERS ABOUND throughout this podcast – both for this film and the previous Daniel Craig installments. Matt Brown, Matthew Price, Kurt Halfyard and Andrew James serve up this Super Ticket Podcast dissecting the nuance and bombast that is the 24th installment of the James Bond franchise. General consensus is positive but there is some dissension within the group; despite Matt Gamble not being able to be present and shout everyone down.
As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Hello! Mamo digs into the true meaning of the auteur theory in a consideration of the subjective successes of Guillermo Del Toro, before addressing the Jennifer Lawrence wage gap standoff and its potential ramifications, and the proper pronunciation of the words "dour," "vagina," and "Guillermo."

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Matt has a new iPhone case which may or may not be blocking all sound, so we did this mini-episode as a bench test - covering the week's big news, the mega-presales for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Let us know what you think, and whether you could hear a word we were saying.

Friday, October 09, 2015

Marvel's rescheduling of Black Panther and Captain Marvel has one Matt calling shenanigans and the other Matt preaching patience on the subject of diversity in mass media. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised which. Mamo assemble!

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

A spoiler-filled discussion of the narrative tricks of Denis Villeneuve's Sicario and a brief consideration of the rightness and wrongness of bio-picking Steve Jobs make up this latest episode of Mamo...

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The summer of 2015 is over! We declare a winner in the Row Three summer box office contest, and then have a look back at the season's top ten and what they might mean, or not mean, about the audience's relationship to the movies.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Special guest star Shelagh Rowan-Legg joins us on day 8 of the Toronto International Film Festival 2015 to discuss highlights of the week thus far! Love! Evolution! Into the Forest! Sherpa! Baskin! Men & Chicken! And much much more!

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Surprise! All evidence to the contrary, the Matts are indeed back at it at the Toronto International Film Festival, and sit down on Day 3 to square things up on the films thus far. We talk The Martian, Green Room, Body, Hitchcock/Truffaut, and more!

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Straight came Outta Compton like a box office rocket, so Mamo is on the scene to discuss the movie's champions and critics, including (professional contrarian?) Armond White's thoughts on the film and black activism in general. Plus we spend five or ten minutes with Fantastic Four, cuz it's us.

Monday, August 03, 2015

Building off last week's Destroy All Monsters column, we discuss the idea of cultural erasure when faced with an artist whose personal conduct has been exposed as repellant. What does "voice" have to do with it, whether we're talking about Bill Cosby, rape culture, celebrity culture, Cara Delevigne, or vocal fry?

Monday, July 20, 2015

The Marvel Cinematic Universe offers up its weakest opening weekend since The Incredible Hulk with Edgar Wright Peyton Reed's Ant-Man, so we assemble the avengers - Norm Wilner from Now Magazine and Someone Else's Movie, and Greg LeGros from See You Next Wednesday and Time Bandits - to geek out over what's gone on in the MCU (and the Distinguished Competition, as well). Plus, smoked meat!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

With San Diego Comic Con 2015 now safely behind us, we ask our annual question: what was it all for? Batman fought Superman, Suicide Squad came out, The Hunger Games continued to dominate and we sort of just don't care any more. At what point did Comic Con cease to be a launchpad and became a temporary meatspace incarnation of something we more routinely call "the internet?"

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Jurassic World has emerged as a surprise forerunner to take the summer box office crown, and Mamo has no idea why. We call in a consult from the Dew Over himself, Jamie Dew, to try to sort out what happened on the island...

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

From inside the eye of a hurricane of screaming, recalcitrant youths, old and grumpy Mamo gathers to discuss their favourite subject: what's going wrong with the movies these days. Weaponized anticipation! Mega-franchises-as-movies-as-TV! The death of cinema itself! Tune in and try to follow along.

Saturday, May 30, 2015

After a turbulent couple of weeks in the social wars, Mamo convenes to ask: does online culture lead to groupthink? Can connected societies actually make things better? And what public blunder will eventually bring us down?
Toronto's crop tops, the #FHRITP response, and Peter Howell vs. Tom Hardy vs. The Internet are contemplated in detail as we get to the middle of it, Mamo-style.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Is an actor a spokesperson, a regular Joe like you or I, or a human meat puppet? In light of a noisy Avengers: Age of Ultron press tour and the actions/comments of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Jeremy Renner, Team Mamo digs into our relationship with the people who play our heroes.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Food-stuffed and lusty, Mamo reports on their second day at the Roger Ebert Film Festival 2015, with discussion of representation and mythology in cinema by way of Thursday's "Challenging Stigma Through the Arts" panel, and Godfrey Cheshire's excellent documentary, Moving Midway. Plus, our recommendation for local Mexican!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

It's a Mamo walk-and-talk, live on the streets of Champaign Illinois! We've returned to the Roger Ebert Film Festival for the third time, and take the opportunity to roundly question the validity of Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye To Language. We'll report in a few more times over the next couple days as we work our way through this year's program. Plus, recommendations for pie!

Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Listen up woman! Shit’s about to get real. We’re not letting some snot-nosed Limey who thinks he runs the world get under the skin of this podcast. No sir, we’re calling in the cavalry. Mamo & Cinecast unite to dislodge any notion y’all got about taints or GPS parachutes. Cars do fly in this universe and damned we’ll be if any sum bitch, especially Jason Statham, is gonna take that away from us. We gots NOS in our brain and petrol in the veins; Sit down, have a tuna sandwich and chill with us. You can have any beer you like; as long as it’s a Corona. This is the Super Ticket bra. We’re talking Furious 7. Recognize.
As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!

Monday, March 30, 2015

MAMO! The show about movies and popular culture strides confidently into the summer of 2015 at the domestic box office with our picks for the top ten grossing films of the season. We haven't seen any of 'em! We talk about all of 'em! And kick it open to YOU to sound off in the comments below with your entries for the Mamo Summer Box Office Contest!

Sunday, March 22, 2015

OK here's what happened: we'd just finished recording a new episode of Let's Scare Matthew Price to Death with our friend Dan Gorman, when we got to talking about It Follows, horror movies at the box office, and why every big movie in the genre seems to be treated like the biggest thing ever. What... er... followed was a pickup game of Mamo with one of our favourite guest stars!

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Buckle up! Mamo does a crash course in House of Cardsology before pivoting hard into Fifty Shades of Grey, sexual fantasy, and the death of Leonard Nimoy. Only on this show, could those things all happen in 45 minutes. Plus, we welcome Let's Scare Matthew Price to Death to the world of podcasting!

Monday, February 23, 2015

Glom Gazingo, and welcome to Oscar night 2015! Jamie "The Dew Over" Dew joins us on the couch for our annual slate of mini-podcasts recorded throughout the telecast, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out the golden trophy to the favourites among themselves. Plus, special guest stars Sasha and Max! Join us for this omnibus edition of our evening's activities.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Spider-Man joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe and we look at white privilege in superhero movies, Hollywood, and film history via last year's Jon Hamm baseball picture, Million Dollar Arm. Watch us weave our web!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Mamo #392: Shots Fired

Well that came out of nowhere! Mamo looks at American Sniper's perfectly-fired magic bullet, which hit the Academy, the audience, and about a billion think-piece writers in a single shot. Afterwards, we delve into Supergirl, #XFiles2015, and the equally magic, equally bullet-shaped Joaquin Phoenix.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Mamo #391: Meet Me At The Beaver

Oscar Nomination Day is like Mamo Christmas! We get together at the pub for a quick discussion of the noms for 2014, while nomming the food that continuously arrives throughout the show. Plus, both Price and Brown announce their side projects because clearly this marriage has gotten old. It's Mamo!

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Happy New Year! Mamo does away with the year-end top ten and in its place, repurposes the Premiere Power List format to count down the top movers, shakers, influencers, and creative superpeople of the film industry for 2014. Who made their mark in the year that was, and will shape the years to come? Join us!

Friday, December 05, 2014

In which our discussion jumps from the James Bond announcement to the question of whether anticipating movies has replaced the movies themselves, with detours through Terminator Gineisysy and Suicide Squad.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Dust. Wind. Dude. Nolan likes to present his deep thought, high concept material in the simplest way possible. Why? Is he talking down to us or is there some other reason for it? And is that ok? Forget quantum mechanics, string theory, global disaster and baseball in space, we want to know two things: why does Nolan treat us like children at times and will Coop ever get a chance to copulate with his daughter? Also, Maaaatt Dammun.
As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

In which Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler connects in weird and unsettling ways to a lot of contemporary questions we have about media figures, power dynamics, and the scary place that exists on the other side of shame.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Just one of those throw-it-at-the-wall episodes of Mamo that expands in concentric circles till we're talking about mental health, games, art forms, and narrative itself, along with the proper pronunciation of "Babadook." See if it sticks!

Saturday, October 11, 2014

With the Ghostbusters III news and the release of Yo, Dracula!, Team Mamo has a look at the major studios' race to construct their own Marvel-style megafranchises - with widely varying odds of success.

Sunday, October 05, 2014

It's finally time to close up the summer box office contest for 2014! Congratulations to our winner, Philip Poirot, for pantsing the rest of us on one of the hardest-to-call summers we've ever seen. We recap what happened from the back of a speeding car.

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

As moviegoing continues to die and digital content takes over, we look at how Fox's Gotham is getting it wrong, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (may be) getting it right, and Netflix is getting us all headed towards the future with its Crouching Tiger 2 deal. Plus, the velvet funnel.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Does TIFF have a gala problem? We look at the festival's changing relationship with red carpet premieres and superstar filmmakers as Team Mamo charts a weirder course through international filmmaking waters...

Friday, September 05, 2014

Reporting live (actually it's a podcast) from the first night of the Toronto International Film Festival 2014! We pick our top five anticipated films for the week ahead, and since there's nothing better to do we get into the real question: WTF is with that beard.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Mamo returns to the subject of film canon, for an even broader and stranger discussion of aging aesthetics, DVD ownership, death and cinema, and Emmerich/Devlin's overlooked 1996 masterpiece: Independence Day.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

It's film festival time! As Matt & Matt prepare to step into their complex plans for the Toronto International Film Festival 2014, it's time to have a quick look through the book and talk about the programs and films that are getting it done this year. Madness! Vanguard! Docs! Masters! It's all here!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Thursday, August 07, 2014

Podcasts bring podcasters together! We welcome Greg LeGros from the Modern Superior oligarchy onto the show to talk about space raccoons and blue fellows named Yondu, and all the other things that Marvel seems to be able to do without breaking a sweat - all while Sony and DC sweat balls over their rest-of-the-decade tentpole plans.

Monday, July 07, 2014

Mamo reflects on the worst 4th of July weekend in 30 years of moviegoing, by way of ruminations upon Tammy, Transformers, The Sandman, TIFF, and Roger Ebert's life itself (and its consequences for the documentary Life, Itself).

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Join us in the sultry, semi-sexual heat of a Barrie Ontario long weekend as we discuss Trans4mers, the Chinese, and the nature of "evil"; Rian Johnson, Star Wars, and the new crop of blockbuster directors; and Predator 4, worldbuilding, and why people need to get over it. Happy summer, Mamo listeners!

Sunday, June 15, 2014

How To Train Your Dragon 2 did NOT set the box office on fire as we all expected, reminding us of another big ticket sequel from a few years back which also underperformed. Does Dreamworks have a sequel problem?

Friday, June 13, 2014

It's the movie many of has pegged as the blockbuster of the summer - Mamo talks How To Train Your Dragon 2! Plus that enormous Nikki Finke Justice League rumour, which may not (strictly speaking) be "true" but certainly is "interesting." Strap on your squirrel suit and let's fly...

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Can you believe we've already used the title "X-Mamo" for a show? Of course you can, there's been like a bazillion of these things. What is the state of the longest-running in-continuity superhero franchise? Mamo travels through time...

Thursday, May 01, 2014

We're nearly there, we swear! Day 4 of the 16th annual Roger Ebert Film Festival sees us responding to two gorgeous late-festival installments, Wadjda and A Simple Life, along with longtime Price favourite Goodbye Solo.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Live from Champaign, Illinois! We arrive at the 16th annual Roger Ebert Film Festival and discuss Steve James' documentary, Life Itself, along with our thoughts on the future of digital filmmaking in response to the morning's panel. Guest starring Row Three's Ariel Fisher!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Bonus Mamo! Price has finally seen Captain America and reviewed the relevant documentation, and has determined that there's nothing wrong with DC/Warner Brothers' franchise development strategy after all. Brown, as you can imagine, is firmly Team Marvel/Disney. Conversation ensues. Join us!

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Summer begins now! Welcome to the annual Mamo Summer Box Office Competition, and this, our kickoff episode - in which the Matts lay out their vague theories on how things will go down in the domestic marketplace for the summer of 2014.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

10 years after Serenity, what do we make of the latest fanbase-cum-motion-picture boondoggle, Veronica Mars, and its digital-download boondoggle, UltraViolet? Plus conversation about The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ghostbusters III, Star Wars VII, and more vidja game movies. Also, be careful: we speak out about Apple, which apparently carries vast cosmic karmic consequences.

Friday, March 14, 2014

News about TIFF Kids, the Time Bandits Podcast, and Shorts That Are Not Pants; followed by further discussion of narrative and storytelling in the genres we call "video game movies" and "comic book movies." It's a Marvel! Join us.

Saturday, March 08, 2014

Oscar fallout! Mamo welcomes special guest star Dan Gorman from See You Next Wednesday to discuss the Kim Novak / plastic surgery issue, as raised in the previous episode. Are women, Hollywood, beauty, youth, and our expectations a circular clustercuss?

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Mamo tries to get back on belated track as the Oscar ceremony roars toward us... we give you our Oscar picks, in case you still haven't entered your office Oscar pool; talk Guardians of the Galaxy and general awesomeness; and hold a brief memorial for the brave, beautiful Mamo 340. And then Price nearly dies. It's great! It's Mamo.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Dinner for five! Mamo welcomes THREE special guest stars to a roundtable discussion of Manohla Dargis' recent contention that the American indie market is overstuffed with product. Kurt Halfyard, Dave Voigt and Ryan McNeil tell the Matts what's what.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Remember the days when a movie like Jack Ryan would come out, do whatever business it would do (or not do), and we would get together and analyze the project in depth in terms of why the audiences were (or weren't) responding to it? These aren't those days. A potpourri episode of Mamo ensues! Ryan! Bats/Supes! Marvel! Ebert! Armond! Time Bandits! And more.

Sunday, January 05, 2014

After a three-week food-and-blackout-fueled hiatus, Mamo returns! It's the first week of 2014 which means, naturally, it's time to close up shop on 2013 with our picks for the best films of the year. We also get in deep on the relative merits of Twelve Years a Slave and The Wolf of Wall Street, wax philosophical on whether films can ever truly be "numbered," and give some thought to Her and the state of science fiction.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Mamo rounds the corner on the second third of its thousand-show output with a free-roaming discussion of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the state of the modern epic, the mega-franchise model, and... well, you'll see.

Saturday, December 07, 2013

Special guest star Ryan McNeil joins the podcast for a three-way conversation about the place of canon in a cinephile's life. Are "blind spot" series blinding? Or does the appreciation of the art form improve when you do your homework?

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

One seems like a situation where there's no way to get it right; and the other a scenario where the studio is determined to get it wrong. Mamo assembles to discuss the future of two Hollywood franchises: The Fast and the Furious in the wake of Paul Walker's death, and the Warner Brothers clusterfuck of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

As Catching Fire catches fire at the box office to the tune of $150 million or more, it's time to call shenanigans on Hollywood's decade-old assertion that women can't open blockbusters - or more to the point, that what a person has between their legs lets you predict what they will and will not do in relation to a good or not-good movie. Correlation and causality get rewired in the latest episode of Mamo!

Monday, November 11, 2013

KRA-KOOOM! Thor returns to wreak Asgardian justice on the mortal world of the box office, and Team Mamo takes a time-out to consider the state of the Marvel empire: Phase 2, Agents of SHIELD, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the NetFlix original series announcement, all suggest a franchise in its prime. So what's going wrong?

Sunday, November 03, 2013

Toronto had a rollicking week in the news, but is this the resurgence of print journalism, or its last gasp? We talk new media vs. old, complex thought vs. simple, and whether a well-informed electorate is beyond the purview of a man like Rob Ford.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Do we have a show? You bet your britches we have a show. We talk Big Kahuna and Movie Club, Carrie and The Descent, Oblivion and Gravity, Agents of SHIELD and TV, rep cinemas and the future of exhibition, and maybe some other things too. Mamo is like Pringles: once you pop, you can't stop.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Gravity continues into its second weekend of box office domination and as the inevitable backlash winds up, Matt and Matt take a few trips around the planet in their space suits to talk about god, the lack of same, and how we ascribe meaning to our big screen counterparts by way of great filmmaking.

Friday, October 04, 2013

In this two-pronged episode, Kaitlyn Regehr, producer of Tempest Storm: Burlesque Queen, returns to the show to discuss her experiences pitching the project at WestDoc 2013. After that, we get into the online frenzy that followed the conclusion of Breaking Bad - in particular, the heartfelt confessions of one Mr. Damon Lindelof.
Tempest Storm: Burlesque Queen's Kickstarter program runs till October 9! Help them get across the finish line - visit tempeststormfilm.com for more information.

Monday, September 30, 2013

What if your own emotional baggage is getting in the way of your ability to enjoy a film? After some quick news updates from the movie world at large and some words about Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, Matt Price puts forth a theory about his longstanding dislike of horror films - and resolves to do something about it.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Mamo returns, having survived the wilds of TIFF '13 - if "survived" is a word you can apply to a festival where Matt Price announced his retirement from moviegoing and a lunatic film blogger in a press and industry screening called 911 because someone else was using their mobile phone. What kind of a future of movies do you call this?!

Friday, September 13, 2013

Mamo returns from Day 8 of the Toronto International Film Festival 2013! We follow up with Pitch This winner Daniel Cockburn, and then recap days 5-8, including jabber about OCULUS, Canopy, Tracks, How I Live Now, Man of Tai Chi, Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari, Jodorowsky's Dune, The Unknown Known, Blood Ties, Sunshine on Leith, We Are The Best!, Paradise: Hope, This Is Sanlitun, When Evening Falls on Bucharest, and The Wind Rises. Plus, Dave Voigt pops by for like eight seconds.

Monday, September 09, 2013

Welcome to the Toronto International Film Festival 2013! We begin our coverage by interviewing two teams entered in TIFF's annual Pitch This! competition - Nimisha Mukerji and Kaitlin Reygehr for Tempest Storm, and Daniel Cockburn for The Engineers - about how TIFF helps propel new filmmakers into their projects. Then we recap days 1-4 of the fest, with discussion of Fat, You Are Here, The Green Inferno, All Cheerleaders Die, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Story of Children and Film, The Station, Heart of a Lion, Horns, Atilla Marcel, Love is the Perfect Crime, Young & Beautiful, Blue is the Warmest Colour, Antboy, Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang, and Enough Said. Join us at the Lightbox!
More information about Tempest Storm can be found at tempeststormfilm.com.
Daniel Cockburn can be found on twitter at @danielcockburn.

Monday, September 02, 2013

On a hot and sunny Labour Day weekend / in the middle of a torrential rainstorm, Mamo wanders away from a lacklustre summer at the movies to talk about standup comedy and its nascent status as a pop art form worthy of thought, reflection, and criticism.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

The 38th Toronto International Film Festival is thundering down upon us, so Mamo sits outside near the streetcar tracks and tells you what's what in the 2013 programme. Vanguard! Docs! Midnight Madness! Discovery! Mavericks! Masters! Your TIFF experience begins here...

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Mamo returns from the midsummer dregs to talk about how fans advocate for their favourite properties online; how the format and nature of television is shifting and changing in the Netflix age; and how porn and non-porn bends the rules of reality and fantasy and how that's a good thing. None of which has anything to do with Sharlto Copley.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

In which discussion ranges from the TIFF Midnight Madness and Vanguard announcements, to the super-overloaded Hollywood slate for 2015, to 3-D and the lack of proper conversation about it, to (once again) the end of movies as we know it, to whether or not we should just do this show on Vine. Mamo!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Comic Con is behind us and so are the big guns of the summer of 2013. What does the Batman/Superman announcement say about the health of Warner Brothers and their DC comics franchise? Nothing good, says we...

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Wonder twin powers, ACTIVATE! It’s been demanded for hours and now it’s finally here: a collaboration between the Mamo Matts and The Cinecast featuring Matt “the pot shot” Gamble of Where the Long Tail Ends. Three quarters of the way through summer blockbuster season, culminating in a Guillermo del Toro monster mash ‘em up seemed like an appropriate time to get this party started. Besides Pacific Rim, we naturally evolve into talking about the concept of the Super Ticket, racism at the box office, will Hollywood finally fuck off, Spider-Man 4(!?) and the secession of Texas joining forces with Quebec to start a new world order. This is an historic moment; enjoy it!

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

The summer of 2013 has revealed what will doubtless be recorded as its all-time mega-bomb: Disney's The Lone Ranger, which might be the nail in the coffin of the Western, 2-D, and Johnny Depp himself. Special guest star Ryan McNeil joins us for a gab session about what went wrong and why.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Mamo returns to audio podcasting to look at what James Gandolfini did for the evolution of television - and by extension, perhaps, the evolution of everything we (and Steven Spielberg and George Lucas) have been talking about.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Sometimes, you just gotta call for a do-over. Unsatisfied with our first Man of Steel show, we return 2 days later to discuss 'roid rage cinema, Christ allegories, and the future of the DCU. You know, like we do. We believe in Superman.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Men of Mamo bring their steel to the party and tackle the Zack Snyder / Christopher Nolan / DC Comics / Warner Brothers megalith, Man of Steel, upon which all hopes for the future of everything have, perhaps capriciously, been pinned. You will believe two men can gab.

Monday, June 10, 2013

We start with surprise box-office success The Purge, and then catch a wild ride through the many Mamo mental matchups that lead one from the sublime to the ridiculous when considering the state of literally everything.

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Critics reacted to M. Night Shyamalan and Will Smith's After Earth and fans reacted right back, in the only way they know how: erratically. With more layoffs at "real" publications, and Twitter telling us what we already think anyway, is proper film criticism dead?

Monday, May 27, 2013

VROOOOOOOM...!! Mamo takes a quick road trip to the U.S. of A. for barbecued meat and Vin Diesel, which are largely indistinguishable from one another. On the drive home we take a moment to survey the state of the nation of the most unlikely super-franchise in Hollywood. Who's feeling fast? Who's feeling furious?

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Matthew Price sits down with Justin Szlasa, producer of the new documentary Side By Side, to discuss the generational transition from celluloid to digital cinematography, and all the things it means. Meanwhile, Matt Brown eats popcorn.

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

That's how Dad did it, that's how America does it, and it's worked out pretty well so far - but how far can you push the comic book movie in the post-Avengers world? Team Mamo spoils the holy crap out of Iron Man 3 under the scorching heat of Ben Kingsley's sunglassed stare...

Friday, April 26, 2013

Mamo returns! We look at the changing face of China in light of Iron Man 3, the sci-fi might of Tom Cruise and Oblivion, before diving into the whole Zach Braff Kickstarter fracas. There's some larger point to be made here about how and where movies make money, we're sure.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Mamo rounds third base with a potpourri discussion of Star Trek Into Darkness and Man of Steel (and their respective final trailers), Iron Man 3 (and its leading man), 42 (and the current state of sports movies), and the hows and whys of becoming a man. Summer ho! If you haven't entered the box office contest yet, do so at Row Three.

Saturday, April 06, 2013

Monday, April 01, 2013

The Mamo Summer Box Office Contest is here! We roll out the wildest, weirdest summer we've ever encountered and break down week by week what we think will make what, and how. Now it's your turn: listen to the episode, and enter your picks for the top ten grossing films to be released between May 1 and August 31. May the craziest bastard win.
Entries must be made in the comment section for this episode on RowThree.com to be eligible.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Has movie marketing finally flipped its lid? With spoileriffic trailers for Iron Man 3 and The Wolverine dropping this week, we look at whether the process of hyping a movie retains any interest in preserving audience surprise - or if we're just missing the point anyway.